Does this happen a lot?
By ZephyrSun
@ZephyrSun (7381)
United States
August 27, 2010 10:13am CST
In case you haven't heard the Governor of New York tried to go to the first game of World Series game for free. Now, I had no idea that 5 tickets for a baseball game was so expensive ($850) but, is Governor Paterson that cheap or do politicians just always try to get these types of "perks"?
So I guess this is a big deal because there was an ethics investigation and the independent counsel found-
"An independent counsel in New York has determined that David Paterson misled ethics investigators when he testified that he had intended to pay for free tickets to last year's World Series, but the report stops short of recommending that the governor be charged with perjury."
Question number two- Why do states even bother with these ethics panels and independent investigations if they never plan on doing anything to the politician breaking the law? Don't get me wrong I think that these public officials should be held accountable for their actions but, if nothing is going to result in the investigation why not just save tax payer money? Or better yet force the said official to pay for the investigation once it's over. That would be rather funny since the cheapskate wouldn't pay to take his son to a baseball game.
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/08/26/new-york-gov-david-paterson-misled-investigators-over-yankees-t/
2 people like this
3 responses
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
27 Aug 10
As another poster mentioned, the tickets cost that much because it was the World Series. If those were the prices for regular games than nobody would be going as the vast majority of us can't pay that much.
These ethics investigations are merely a show for the people. They do a bogus little investigation, slap someone's wrist (if you're lucky), and then say they did their job. That way they get to collect their paychecks because, as you know, it's all about money and power. Just look at all the politicians that have been guilty of perjury whether it be Roland Burris, Governor Patterson, or President Clinton. The people who investigated them never did ANYTHING to them regardless of how blatant their crimes were.
In case you're wondering what could happen to YOU in similar circumstances, perjury carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison. The minimum sentence is a stern glare.
1 person likes this
@ZephyrSun (7381)
• United States
27 Aug 10
Do you think that us little nobodies could use it as a defense the next time we lie in court? Seems only fair doesn't it? LOL
I wonder if "we" the people started demanding that these panels either put up or shut up...
1 person likes this
@shira0524 (482)
• United States
27 Aug 10
Regular baseball games don't cost that much to attend. Regular season games sell tickets for as low as $10 and usually between $10-$20. World Series games, however, are different since they are championship games and the tickets are in very high demand.
As for what he did, well, he lied. It's not looked at very favorably when government officials or any "higher ups" get to do things free while the rest of the country has to pay considering how many people are out of work in the US. If they were gifts that someone else paid for, I could understand it. But since they were apparently "freebies", which just costs everyone else more money in the long run, I can understand people being annoyed. If it's against the rules for officials to take freebies (since it is thought that this can affect their "judgement"), then he should not have accepted them, or should have made sure he paid for it.
As for your second question, well, that's a good question indeed. Seems to happen a lot in the US though. People in high places a lot of times manage to get out of facing any real penalty so it seems all it teaches them is that breaking their own rules is a worthy risk. If the chance is low that anything is really going to come of it, then why not? Very sad.
1 person likes this
@ZephyrSun (7381)
• United States
27 Aug 10
It does seem like our officials on many different levels are always in trouble for a wide variety of "ethics violations" (that's what they always seem to call it) yet nothing happens and we are always starting wars because the countries have "bad leaders".
1 person likes this
